Chris Squire, Yes bass guitarist dies, aged 67

Chris Squire, a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes, has died. He was 67 and had been undergoing treatment, in his adopted home town of Phoenix, for acute erythroid leukemia.

He was already due to take a break from the band, with Billy Sherwood taking his place for the forthcoming tour. Their first date on 7 August will be the first time they have performed live without him.

Regularly voted one of the world’s top bassists,he cut a familiar figure with his Rickenbacker guitar on which he produced the thumping bass lines for the band’s inventive style of rock featuring mystical lyrics and lengthy compositions, often with complex instrumental and vocal arrangements.

Squire, born in London in 1948, was the only member of the band to play on every one of their albums, including Yes (1968), Time and a Word (1970), The Yes Album and Fragile (both 1971), Close to the Edge (1972), Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973), Relayer (1974) Going For The One (1977). The band’s last album featuring Squire was Heaven & Earth released last year.

His 1975 solo album Fish Out Of Water, which featured Yes colleagues Bill Bruford and Patrick Moraz, was a top 30 UK success.

Before forming Yes in 1968 with Jon Anderson he spent two years with The Syn which supported the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Marquee Club in 1967.

He played on Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman’s Six Wives of Henry VIII and collaborated on three albums with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett.

Yes were the support band at Cream’s farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 November 1968.